Junior Dos Santos Pulled From UFC 215 After Possible Doping Violation

Junior Dos Santos will not fight Francis Ngannou at UFC 215 after he was flagged for a potential doping violation. UFC officials announced the news today according to MMAjunkie after the USADA notified them of the news.

Dos Santos was flagged following an out-of-competition drug test that was conducted on August 10th. The UFC’s statement noted, “Because of the proximity to Dos Santos’ upcoming scheduled bout at UFC 215 in Edmonton, Canada against Francis Ngannou, Dos Santos has been removed from the card and the UFC is currently seeking a replacement. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair legal process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.”

Dos Santos’ reps issued a statement which blamed a diuretic as the flagged substance. The full statement is below:

Junior tested positive for a substance called Hydrochlorothiazide, which is a diuretic and is banned by USADA due to its use as a masking agent. We do not know where this substance came from. Junior has had his blood and urine randomnly tested many times and has never once tested positive for a banned substance.

We requested testing of his B sample today. Most times, the B sample will show the identical results as the A sample. Therefore, we are already working on analyzing his nutritional supplements and medications to determine whether anything might have been contaminated. Jeff Novitzky and Donna Marcolini of the UFC have provided the guidance for this process, and we are grateful to them for their professionalism and competence.

Ngannou posted to Twitter, noting he wasn’t pleased with the turn of events:

I'm very very angry!!!

Almost done with training camp and they just announced that my opponent is out for #ufc215